![\"Did](\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-129935702,imgsize-801969,width-400,resizemode-4\/129935702.jpg\" "\\"Viral")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nA widely shared social media post claims to show the passport of Ramesses II, allegedly issued more than 3,000 years after his death so his mummy could be flown to France in 1974.The story has spread with a mix of fascination and disbelief, complete with a supposed passport image listing his birth as 1303 BC and occupation as \u201cKing (deceased)\u201d. But while part of the claim is rooted in reality, the image itself, and some of the surrounding assumptions, tell a more complicated story.<\/p>\n The post, shared widely across platforms including Instagram, reads: \u201cIn 1974, Ramesses II was sent on a flight to Paris for preservation and maintenance work. But since French law required every person, living or dead to fly with a valid passport, Egypt was forced to issue a passport to the Pharaoh, 3,000 years after his death.\u201dAlongside the claim is an image presented as the pharaoh\u2019s passport, a modern-looking document styled like an official Egyptian travel booklet. It features a portrait resembling Ramesses II\u2019s mummified face, with printed details that heighten the sense of authenticity: his date of birth is listed as \u201c1303 B.C.\u201d, the issue date appears as \u201cSept. 3, 1974,\u201d and, most strikingly, his occupation is recorded as \u201cKing (deceased)\u201d. The layout mimics a standard passport format, complete with identification fields and formal typography, which is precisely why the image has been so widely taken at face value.The combination of bureaucratic absurdity and ancient history helped the claim go viral, but it blends fact with fiction.<\/p>\n The core of the story is true, but the full sequence of events is far more detailed than the viral claim suggests.In 1974, the mummy of Ramesses II was flown from Cairo to Paris after concerns emerged over its deteriorating condition. According to reporting by The New York Times,<\/a> the chain of events began when French physician Maurice B\u00e9caille was conducting research at the Cairo Museum into the biblical exodus narrative and seeking to determine the cause of the pharaoh\u2019s death.After being granted permission to closely examine the mummy, B\u00e9caille found that \u201cunder the bandages the remains were not in good shape, with parts destroyed by mysterious growths.\u201d He proposed that French scientists could assist with preservation, a suggestion that initially met resistance from Egyptian authorities, who were reluctant to allow such a historically significant figure to leave the country.The proposal only moved forward after it reached the highest political level. French President Val\u00e9ry Giscard d\u2019Estaing raised the matter directly with Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat during a state visit to Cairo in December the previous year, formally offering France\u2019s assistance in restoring the mummy.To comply with modern travel requirements, Egypt issued Ramesses II an official passport, a bureaucratic step that has since become the most widely shared part of the story. As noted by National Geographic<\/a>, the document included his image and listed his occupation as \u201cKing (deceased)\u201d.<\/p>\n While the passport itself existed, the image circulating online does not show the real document.A reverse image search traces the widely shared picture back to an article published on the archaeology website Heritage Daily<\/a> on 25 March 2020. The site clearly notes in a disclaimer that the image is \u201can artist\u2019s creation\u201d and that the actual passport is not publicly available.<\/p>\n The image originally posted on Heritage Daily included a disclaimer noting it was an artist\u2019s creation, not real.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In other words, the viral post pairs a genuine historical anecdote with a fabricated visual, giving the impression of documentary proof where none has been publicly released.<\/p>\n Ramesses II, often known as Ramesses the Great, ruled for 67 years during Egypt\u2019s 19th Dynasty (c. 1279\u20131213 BCE) and is widely regarded as one of the most powerful and celebrated pharaohs of the New Kingdom.He claimed a decisive victory over the Hittites at the Battle of Kadesh, though historians now consider it more of a stalemate that ultimately led to the world\u2019s earliest known peace treaty in 1258 BCE.His legacy was vast. He had over 200 wives and concubines, fathered dozens of children, and commissioned monuments across Egypt on an unprecedented scale. Later generations referred to him as the \u201cGreat Ancestor\u201d.His body was originally buried in the Valley of the Kings, later moved by priests to protect it from looters, and eventually rediscovered in 1881 in a royal cache at Deir el-Bahri alongside dozens of other mummies. Today, he is displayed at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.Ramesses II is also frequently linked, though without conclusive evidence, to the pharaoh described in the biblical Book of Exodus, which states: \u201cAnd the children of Israel journeyed from Ramses,\u201d in its account of the Israelites\u2019 departure from Egypt.<\/div>\nThe viral claim, and why it caught attention
<\/h2>\n<\/p>\nWhat actually happened in 1974
<\/h2>\n<\/p>\nThe image is not real, it\u2019s an artist\u2019s rendering
<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n![\"Rameses](\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/msid-129935561\/rameses-ii.jpg\" "\\"The")
<\/p>\nWho was Ramesses II, and why he still fascinates<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n